Blizzard — Southwestern St. Lawrence, New York

2022-12-23 to 2022-12-25 · Southwestern St. Lawrence, New York

Event narrative

Blizzard conditions across southwest St. Lawrence county with sustained winds 25-30 mph with frequent gusts in excess of 40 mph causing white-out conditions and considerable drifting of the snow. Snowfall totals ranged from 6 inches to 2 to 3 feet across the area with the greatest along and west of Route 11. Snow and Travel Emergencies were declared.

Wider weather episode

A very powerful storm across Ontario (972mb) remained nearly stationary from the evening of December 23rd (Friday) through the morning of December 25th (Sunday). An arctic front associated with this storm moved across Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence valley during the early afternoon hours of December 23rd but the favored unidirectional SW flow across Lake Ontario didn't establish until Friday evening.

Friday evening through early Sunday morning, a very strong southwest flow of 40 to 50 knots across Lake Ontario led to blizzard conditions across southwest St. Lawrence county through Saturday night and near blizzard conditions at times across northern St. Lawrence county, mainly along/west of Route 11. The lake effect band shifted southeast during Sunday morning, bringing heavy lake effect snow to southeastern St. Lawrence county through Sunday evening.

Some of the higher snowfall totals included 20 to 38 inches in Gouverneur, 20 inches in Morristown, 16 inches n West Fowler, 15 inches in Star Lake and 10 inches in South Colton with 6 to 15 inches across northern St. Lawrence along/west of Route 11.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1061584. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.